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Cerese Meresin
Lady Meresin Cover-Identity as Sister to Duke Turel Meresin, Member of the Shadow Court, Wooden Elm Monstrosity, Desire Demon, Underground Slave Trade Connections Date of Birth: (3 years old) female-identifying demonic entity Appearance: Personality: How do you analyze a personality that was never even remotely human at any time during its existence? To a mortal, understanding the true thought processes behind Cerese's malevolence would be a terrifying experience at best. She certainly acts with purpose and possesses an intense, underlying hatred for humanity and its other mortal brethren, yet at the same time seems a highly impulsive and fickle creature. The truth is simply this: Cerese was born from chaos magic and obsession, twisted and brought into existence as a demon, but her creation was heavily influenced by the teacher whose name she never even knew and some of his ideas. He was obsessed with her, thinking it love, so Cerese desires obsession with her person much in the same way a human being desires to be loved. Though she herself affects extreme beauty and surrounds herself with it, true uncorrupted and pure beauty offends her on a very deep level, causing a strong desire to tarnish, darken or destroy the object or person in question. Cerese enjoys inflicting pain and the act of killing as much as any demon, but prefers indirect means to do so: manipulation of others is her preferred means, setting brother against brother, friend against friend with unholy glee. Under the guise of Cerese Meresin, respectable noble lady of Bastion, she presents herself as a highly refined woman, to whom such matters as high etiquette and the various pursuits of nobles come as naturally and without difficulty as breathing. Her tongue sharp whip and pleasant silk, as it suits her, she has gained quite a number of admirers for this. This facade amuses her, so she has spent considerable time crafting her personality and background, with the assistance of the Shadow Court and, of course, Turel Meresin. The latter she finds extremely interesting, claiming the Abomination to be the most beautiful thing she has ever seen, her warped sensibilities finding the idea that a human could be corrupted to such an extent and become a demonic entity unto itself highly appealing. As the slightly older sibling in their pretensions, Cerese portrays a mixture of protectiveness and 'secret' jealousy over his accomplishments in Bastion, which lead to her coming to join her 'brother'. Cerese Meresin is a well-composed woman of wit, confidence and poise, though not averse to the occasional mischief, particularly when it annoys but does not seriously harm her brother, though veiled hints exist that she might be approachable for conspiracies against the man. They indicate that there may be more willingness there, if the opportunity presents itself, speaking of a past grievance that still gnaws at her*. If she has any fault, it is likely her vanity, exacerbated by dozens of suitors that tend to swarm around her due to her breathtaking beauty. She inspires a devotion in some that might almost be called slavish and there are rumors that she takes male and female lovers alike. *This, of course, is a ruse designed to allow for the infiltration of enemies to the Shadow Court and their civilian identities. Even if it is mostly supported by her desire to be part of whatever it is that interesting man is doing, she is loyal to the Shadow Court. As far as any demon of her rank and chaotic nature can be, at least Background: It was not long ago ago that one might have refered to Cerese as 'stiff', 'unmoving' or perhaps even 'wooden', all descriptives rather diametrically opposed to the breathtaking beauty that is Cerese Meresin, nowadays. This is because, only three years ago, Cerese was quite literally a piece of wood. A beautiful specimen of an Elm Tree situated in the gardens around Bastion University, she had grown over many decades and had just reached her first century. It was a careless existence, free of the many nuances of humanoid life and the vagaries of time. There was a time when strange energies frequently permeated the vicinity, in recent years, courtesy of a certain Beguiler who dabbled in experimental fey magics. Being a university, it was also an environment of high stress, of awakening youthful desire, of failure and grief. All these factors were an important foundation without which wood may have simply remained wood when one of the local teachers, a professor of arts who was quite insane, fell in love with the tree, within which he believed the soul of his deceased lover to reside -- a young student who had commited suicide earlier in the year, hanging herself on the Elm tree. Growing more and more obsessed, he eventually felled the tree in an effort to possess it and carved a wooden likeness of his lover. He spoke to it, dressed it, treated it as if it was his dead student, who was named Cerese. It began with a small blemish. The angel-like smile seemed cruel, one day. Every time it was corrected, it only got worse, until the wooden puppet could be described only as a monstrosity of some sort: with sharp, wooden teeth, hateful eyes and long, spindly claws. Ultimately, the professor decided to kill himself and unite with his dead lover, setting a bonfire to burn both the puppet and himself. When he died, a hellish screech filled the area and the wooden thing burst forth from the fire, somehow still intact. It was the birth of a new terror unto this world, the corruption of the fey magics that had permeated its wooden form had created a new Desire Demon. Not born of the Nether, but of this world, it quickly found that the delusions that had given it a name and identity were its own domain and that it could use these to manipulate others. Turning this ability onto herself she projected a highly idealized and beautified image of the original Cerese onto herself, effectively creating a mortal self to hide its true evil. Using her beauty and the skills that came to her naturally as a Desire Demon, she quickly gained a number of lovers to lead a comfortable life and get used to her new existence even as she corrupted those lovers into depravity. Of course, the recent disappearances in the area she resides in are not entirely unrelated to her presence, either. Cerese has started to make more of 'herself', but without the unique mesh of circumstances that created her as a demon fully born in this world, she can only produce pale reflections, remaining an oddity even for demons. As a demon born only three years ago into this world , rather than the Nether, her full potential for demonic power is unknown. It is, however, likely that if her body is destroyed and she has no replacement to escape to, she will permanently die as a result. Once found and recruited by the Shadow Court, she assumed an identity that resonated with her, that of Cerese Meresin, no longer relying on the feeble delusions of her past victims but her own to assume the idealized appearance that she considers 'hers'. As a powerful Desire Demon whose raw power was perhaps even equal to that of Turel himself, it was understood that she would not be a mere servant in any public guise, so she was eventually, after some tutoring on Turel's false history and 'brainstorming' on how she would present herself, introduced as his sister. Advantages: (40/42) Phantasmal Beauty IV 4 (Low Social) Cerese's beauty is such that her very passing inspires obsession and bouts of intense jealousy and awe, though it has a tendency to bring out the worst in men and women alike, due to her true, corrupt nature. Cerese was born from and thus manipulates delusions. In most cases, those of others. In one instance, however, she employs her own faux-image of herself and overwrites her own appearance with it. This is neither illusion, nor transformation -- while she maintains it, she truly appears as her human mien. Unlike her manipulations of other's perception, her own self-image is solid and unchangeable, that of the gorgeous aristocratic woman known to Bastion as Cerese Meresin. For the purpose of her appearance under that identity, this acts exactly like the normal Beauty advantage. In situations of great stress, it is possible for Cerese to fall into a more feral mindset, causing her self-image and thus the phantasm to waver, potentially allowing the occasional glimpse of her true nature. Allure II 2 (Low Social) As a Desire Demon, albeit a somewhat unconventional one, Cerese is more than capable of invoking lust, obsession and intrigue. While her mannerisms and elegance are largely supplied by her Phantasmal Beauty, she innately knows just the right ways in which to seduce. The right words, the right gestures, they all come naturally to her. Delusion Field I 5 (All-Range Combat, Low Utility, Low Social) Those who look upon the form of Cerese may fall prey to her innate ability to influence others' minds and delusions. In order for her to affect others for the duration of an encounter, the victim must look at her at least once. This causes the delusion field she emits to hook into the viewer's perception, enabling her ability to manipulate it. Continued viewing, however, is not a requirement as long as they remain within range. The ability is, of course, not perfect and may still be resisted as normal via perception, anti-supernatural influence or anti-illusionary advantages. Once the target's perceptions are influenced by the delusion field, Cerese can make illusory changes to their surroundings in any way she pleases, whether to make herself appear in another position than she would be, set the ground aflame, or to make a dirty hovel seem a rich palace. Subtle Delusion I 1 (Low Utility) The delusions Cerese invokes are treacherous and subtle, making the mind fill any gaps that might be caused by inconsistencies, lulling them into easier acceptance thereof as reality. This makes it more difficult to realize their illusory nature and the connection to Cerese. Cunning I 5 (All-Range Combat, Mid Utility) Cerese has been created with a mind formed well beyond her years and is quite clever, adept at manipulating others and using everything she can to her advantage. Iron Will II 6 (Common Resistance) As a demon with a highly volatile mindset and virtually no biology, Cerese is highly resistant against any attempts to influence her thoughts or emotions. Marionette Body I 6 (All-Range Combat, Mid Utility, Low Transport) Cerese's true appearance is that of a monstrous wooden caricature of human life, with marionette-like joints that move in unnatural ways and vicious claws and teeth. These natural weapons are a powerful threat, particularly since she can twist and bend in ways one would not expect from a humanoid being. Her claws, combined with her unnatural agility and demonic power, allow Cerese to cling to walls and crawl on them, much like a spider. Form of Elm II 4 (All-Range Combat, bypassed by Fire, always applies -1 to resist-rolls vs. Fire) As a being of solid wood, Cerese has no vital organs to speak of and a rather tough exterior. This functions like the Toughness advantage, except that it is bypassed by and even exacerbates fire-based attacks. Construct Traits I 1 (Special) Cerese has no metabolism of any sort; she does not breathe, does not sleep, and requires neither food nor drink. She can perform the physical act of eating and drinking, but the food merely remains in a small hollow compartment inside her chest until disposed of. Lesser Marionettes I 6 Creatues that are, essentially, lesser copies of Cerese that do not possess her sense of self and overall power. They look almost exactly like Cerese's true form: horrible, wooden things with sharp claws and sharper teeth. Their physical abilities mirror those of Cerese's, though they do not possess enough power of their own to be her equals. The Lesser Marionettes are feral and vicious, driven by a demonic hate for all living things. Truly twisted monstrosities, each of them is animated and powered by the soul of a female mortal that was sacrificed during their creation. These are under constant agony, howling and screeching their unending pain and helplessness into the Nether. : Advantages: Marionette Body I above